NanoViricides Inc. (NNVC) has been one of the most widely covered micro caps within the antiviral space ever since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). The company's stock shot up to a new 52-week-high of around $19 when it announced that it had started the drug development process.

There has been regular investor communication regarding the company's progress in the drug development process, and its recent announcement regarding the visit of U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal implies a significant step forward.

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What does NanoViricides do?

NanoViricides, Inc. is a development stage nano-biopharmaceutical company with its research focused on countering viral infections. Founded in 2005, the company uses a unique nanomedicine technology called nanoviricides, which are agents designed to "fool" a virus into attaching to an antiviral nanomachine in the same way that the virus normally attaches to the receptors on a cell surface. The nanoviricides then neutralize and destroy the virus.

Based in Connecticut, the company is developing nanoviricide drug candidates against some critical viral diseases such as seasonal and particularly deadly influenza variations, shingles, HIV/AIDS, cold sores, genital herpes, viral eye diseases, dengue viruses and now Covid-19.

Covid-19 drug progress

NanoViricides was among the first names in the pharma industry to commence the drug development research for the treatment of Covid-19. The company's research team went ahead and identified the virus-binding ligands and within a few weeks, it completed the synthesis of a number of nanoviricide drug candidates for the purpose of testing. For the purpose of their research, the NanoViricides team acquired and worked on two different, low-threat circulating coronaviruses in its BSL2 certified virology laboratory. These coronavirus samples have been expanded to enable the testing of drug candidates. The research team has already successfully developed antiviral drug testing assays based on cell culture infection of these samples.

Senator visit and CARES funding

NanoViricides reported that they had a visit from Senator Richard Blumenthal at their facility in Shelton, Connecticut on March 31, 2020, with the purpose of receiving an update on the drug development progress. The Senator, his staff and members of the press toured the company's lab as well as its c-CMG-capable manufacturing facility.